Toews, Jacob (1912-2013)
Jacob Toews: teacher and minister; born 24 February 1912 in Lichtenau, Molotschna Mennonite Settlement, Ukraine; the second of six children of Heinrich “Henry” Toews (22 February 1885, Fuerstenau, Molotschna, South Russia – 21 December 1972, Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada) and Katherine (Thiessen) Toews (10 December 1887, Hochfeld Estate, Schoenfeld, South Russia – 3 September 1980, Abbotsford, British Columbia). Jacob Toews married Anna Neufeld (30 June 1914, Sergeyevka, Fuerstenland, South Russia – 3 January 1996, Abbotsford, British Columbia), daughter of Hermann Neufeld (1890-1959) and Anna (Neufeld) Neufeld (1896-1944) on 4 July 1942 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The couple had six children: Herbert, Grant, Walter, Mark, Karen, and Kathryn. Jacob Toews died 2 August 2013 in Abbotsford, British Columbia, where he was buried.
The Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 and the ensuing civil war brought an end to Jacob’s peaceful life in South Russia, and his family moved multiple times to escape the violence. In 1923 the family decided to emigrate but were delayed when Jacob did not pass the medical inspection due to trachoma. A doctor well-known to South Russian Mennonites, Dr. Erich A. Tavonius, performed a procedure on Jacob, and the family was able to leave the Soviet Union in 1924.
The family settled on a farm near Arnaud, Manitoba, where Jacob attended school. After finishing Grade 10, Jacob attended the Mennonite Collegiate Institute in Gretna, Manitoba. In 1934 Jacob was able to attend Normal School in Winnipeg. Here he attended South End Mennonite Brethren Church, where he first became acquainted with the family of Hermann Neufeld, who was editor of Die Mennonitische Rundschau.
In 1935 Toews began to teach at a one-room school in Lister, south of Grunthal, Manitoba. He worked here for three years before moving on to a two-room school in Gnadenthal, Manitoba, where he was a Sunday school teacher and choir director and learned to play the viola as member of a string quartet. Meanwhile, he attended summer school at the University of Manitoba in order to obtain a permanent teacher’s licence. Jacob quickly fell in love with Anna, oldest daughter of Hermann Neufeld, and the couple married in 1942.
Jacob was drafted in 1942 and spent several months as a conscientious objector (CO), doing office work for logging firms in Ontario. Meanwhile, due to World War II, the United Church was having difficulty filling ministerial and teaching positions among Indigenous peoples in Canada. Hermann Neufeld negotiated an understanding under which Mennonite COs might temporarily fill those positions, and in 1943 Jacob was posted to Poplar River on Lake Winnipeg, where he worked as teacher and minister. Of his time working with the Indigenous, Jacob wrote, "We came to love these people, who stoically accepted their many misfortunes and still found time to laugh." In 1944 Jacob and Anna relocated to Berens River, also on Lake Winnipeg.
In 1944 Jacob completed his BA at the University of Manitoba. He returned to Berens River, but after two stillbirths, a doctor advised that he and Anna leave the far north. In Winnipeg, Jacob accepted a teaching position at the recently opened Mennonite Brethren Collegiate Institute. During his tenure there, he started a string orchestra and attended evening school at the University of Manitoba, working towards his BEd. Anna and Jacob returned to Berens River in 1951.
Jacob and Anna felt that their children would be better educated in urbanized Canada, and in 1955 he was hired at Mennonite Educational Institute in Abbotsford, British Columbia. The family moved to Clearbrook that year, where they attended South Abbotsford Mennonite Brethren Church.
Jacob Toews spent twenty-four years teaching primarily English literature at MEI; he also directed drama. After retiring in 1979 he taught English as a Second Language (ESL) to new Canadians from a number of countries including Paraguay, Korea, and Russia. He was a member of the Fraser Valley Symphony and played with the Golden Strings who performed in retirement homes. In 2003 Jacob contracted osteomyelitis but recovered and resumed his retirement activities. He lived a healthy and active life and was driving his car until not long before his death. In 2013, however, he broke a femur and died several months later on 2 August 2013.
Jacob Toews’s teaching style was low-key and characterized by openness and tolerance. His legacy is attested to by the love and respect he elicited from his students.
Bibliography
Carstensen, Karen Toews. Email, 23 April 2020.
“Jacob Toews.” Mission City Record. 2 August, 2013. https://www.missioncityrecord.com/obituaries/jacob-toews/
Klassen, John C., ed. ASM: Alternative Service Memoirs. Unpublished, 1995.
“Life Story of Jacob Toews.” Jacob Toews memorial service, 2013.
The Year of Jubilee, Mennonite Brethren Collegiate Institute 1945-1995. Altona: Friesen Press, 1995.
Toews, Jacob. There and Then (An Autobiographical Sketch). Abbotsford: self-published, 1992.
| Author(s) | Robert Martens |
|---|---|
| Date Published | January 2020 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Martens, Robert. "Toews, Jacob (1912-2013)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. January 2020. Web. 25 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Toews,_Jacob_(1912-2013)&oldid=169652.
APA style
Martens, Robert. (January 2020). Toews, Jacob (1912-2013). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 25 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Toews,_Jacob_(1912-2013)&oldid=169652.
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